The man who has been heading up the Government's border protection taskforce, General Angus Campbell, is promoted to Chief of the Army, while Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Davies will become chief of the Air Force.

The Abbott Government is under growing pressure within its own ranks to make a deal on Australia's renewable energy target, with a Queensland backbencher breaking ranks to urge colleagues to consider the Clean Energy Council's offer.

A man accused of brutally murdering his neighbour in the Canberra suburb of Red Hill declared he was a "lover not a fighter" during questioning, a police recording played in the ACT Supreme Court reveals.

Liberal MP Andrew Laming is scolded by Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and ejected from the chamber for bringing fuel into Parliament and pouring it on himself in protest at the pollution left by cruise ship liners.